Jim Crow Laws

Who was Jim Crow? O The name Jim Crow is often used to describe the segregation laws, rules, and customs which arose after Reconstruction ended in 1877 and continued until the mid-1960s. O Jim Crow was a caricature of a black man O The name came from a song: O "Come listen all you galls and boys, I'm going to sing a little song, My name is Jim Crow. Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb'ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow."

Who was Jim Crow? O The song was written by Thomas Rice, a white actor O After seeing a black man singing the song, he was “inspired” to create the character “Jim Crow”, an exaggerated and highly stereotypical black character O He wore black face paint and performed all over the country, and soon the world O His act was incredibly popular – white people loved seeing black people as singing, dancing, grinning fools

Who was Jim Crow? O By 1938, the term “Jim Crow” was used as a racial slur against Black people O It wasn’t as offensive as the “N” word – more along the lines of calling someone a coon or a darkie O By the end of the 19 th century, it was used more often to describe laws and customs designed to oppress Blacks rather than to describe Blacks themselves

Its Effect O Rice and other actors like him popularized the idea that Black people were lazy, stupid, and less human O This made it easy to continue treating Blacks as inferior to whites O Whites were able to justify laws to continue the oppression of Blacks